Criterion Newsletter

[Ashirg]

Still we have to remember that New Line is part of Time Warner or whatever it is called this days and like WB Home Video, they don't license film to third parties anymore

New Line does licence their titles. See recent releases of Spanking the Monkey and Let Him Have It from Image. It even has New Line logo on the back cover. Even though Warner owns New Line, they do their own thing...
My Own Private Idaho and Short Cuts were from New Line as well.

[ianungstad]

My Own Private Idaho, Hoop Dreams, Short Cuts, An Angel at My Table, Naked were all liscened to criterion via New Line Cinema.

[Mr Pixies]

i saw it as them just pimping their Cronenberg releases to those who haven't bought them as History of Violence has some critical buzz. I sure hope they release it and more Cronenberg.

[Tribe]

Criterion could be putting in a good word for New Line's A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE in hopes of getting the rights to Crash. Or, could Criterion release a double of both VIOLENCE (SE) and CRASH in the upcoming months?

I also thought that History of Violence might be a potential release in light of the mention in the newsletter. I don't see it as a double release with Crash though. Very, very different movies.

I was thinking more 2 in the same month than a boxset. I actually find them rather similar in terms of the themes.

Ah...my bad. Too bad we can't really get into a drawn out discussion about this in this thread (as much as I'd like to), but I don't even find them similar even thematically...aside from Cronenberg's personal preoccupations which are present in all his films.

What the hell though...it wouldn't mind owning both of them.

Tribe

[dx23]

New Line does licence their titles. See recent releases of Spanking the Monkey and Let Him Have It from Image. It even has New Line logo on the back cover. Even though Warner owns New Line, they do their own thing...
My Own Private Idaho and Short Cuts were from New Line as well.

Wow, i have all those DVDs and never noticed the New Line logo.

Well, this is all good news then, because the History of Violence DVD doesn't seem as good as it can be (starting with the cove artwork), so Criterion could do a proper job with it. Ditto for Crash, which is one of the early DVD releases, and could be improved greatly.

[solaris72]

Well, this is all good news then, because the History of Violence DVD doesn't seem as good as it can be (starting with the cove artwork), so Criterion could do a proper job with it. Ditto for Crash, which is one of the early DVD releases, and could be improved greatly.

What could Criterion add to History of Violence other than a spine # and a higher MSRP? It's got a Cronenberg commentary, a deleted scene (for which we have to thank David Prior's efforts on The Fly SE) w/ commentary, a documentary, three featurettes, a trailer, and DTS (all according to DVD Active). Sure, the cover's ugly as sin, but I don't think that's enough reason. Now, a Crash Criterion DVD, with all the LD fixings, would be something indeed.

[bjeggert82]

Just to clarify some of the specilation on the Ozu hint, it's probably the film Late Spring which is going to be released in early May, or late spring. I just picked up A Hundred Years of Japanese Film, by Donald Richie. In the index of films at the back of the book, he lists Late Spring as available from Criterion DVD. Being as this book is a refurbished edition just recently released, the film is probably going to be released extremely quick... probably with some commentary or an essay by Richie.

[King of Kong]

Just to clarify some of the specilation on the Ozu hint, it's probably the film Late Spring which is going to be released in early May, or late spring. I just picked up A Hundred Years of Japanese Film, by Donald Richie. In the index of films at the back of the book, he lists Late Spring as available from Criterion DVD. Being as this book is a refurbished edition just recently released, the film is probably going to be released extremely quick... probably with some commentary or an essay by Richie.

In the same volume, Richie also mentioned a Criterion Ugetsu DVD some months before it was officially confirmed. I'll take his word for Late Spring.

[denti alligator]

Yeah, but if I remember correctly, Richie also lists many other titles as being out in Criterion that have been released elsewhere already or that we know won't be appearing. I only browsed through this in the store. Those who have it might provide the details.

[Michael Kerpan]

Yeah, but if I remember correctly, Richie also lists many other titles as being out in Criterion that have been released elsewhere already or that we know won't be appearing. I only browsed through this in the store. Those who have it might provide the details.

Can you remember any examples?

I know Richie has apparently mentioned various Ozu films as coming out on Criterion eventually -- and while some have been released in other markets, this does not mean that they will not also be released by Criterion.

[denti alligator]

Yeah, but if I remember correctly, Richie also lists many other titles as being out in Criterion that have been released elsewhere already or that we know won't be appearing. I only browsed through this in the store. Those who have it might provide the details.

Can you remember any examples?

I know Richie has apparently mentioned various Ozu films as coming out on Criterion eventually -- and while some have been released in other markets, this does not mean that they will not also be released by Criterion.

Using amazon's "search inside this book" function, I've located most of them:

Early Spring
Naruse's Flowing
Humanity and Paper Balloons
Late Spring (now all but confirmed)

I thought I'd remembered more. These are all possibilities, of course. So maybe I've misspoken.

So should Humanity and Paper Balloons be added to the "Forthcoming" list? And this specific Naruse title?

[Michael Kerpan]

> Early Spring
> Naruse's Flowing
> Humanity and Paper Baloons

Unless Eureka/MOC has locked up worldwide rights in "humanity and Paper Balloons", Criterion still _could_ well have the right to do an American release.

Criterion theoretically has the US DVD rights to all of Ozu's films -- so "Early Spring" is possible (but not likely for 10 years or so). Maybe this was a typo for "Early Summer"?

One strongly suspects Criterion has arranged (is currently arranging) to release SOME Naruse films of DVD eventually -- "Flowing" obviously _could_ be one.

One can only rely on Richie's book to get a general sense of the history of Japanese cinema. Unfortunately one can't rely on many specific details -- as there are quite a few factual errors.

[rwaits]

Oh my god...I've been requesting Humanity and Paper balloons from Criterion for YEARS. Is this really a possibility???

[denti alligator]

Criterion theoretically has the US DVD rights to all of Ozu's films -- so "Early Spring" is possible (but not likely for 10 years or so). Maybe this was a typo for "Early Summer"?

Well, maybe, but Early Summer was listed right after this entry, so I doubt it.

[Cinephrenic]

As for Naruse, Criterion would release his highest output first I think since they have control over many of his works.

[Michael Kerpan]

As for Naruse, Criterion would release his highest output first I think since they have control over many of his works.

What do you mean by "highest output"? Flowing is, without doubt, one on Naruse's greatest masterpieces. There are some other Naruse films that are equally good -- but there aren't any that are better.

[kinjitsu]

Criterion theoretically has the US DVD rights to all of Ozu's films -- so "Early Spring" is possible (but not likely for 10 years or so).

Why the pessimism on Early Spring? Is it because of the lack of decent source material?

[Michael Kerpan]

Why the pessimism on Early Spring? Is it because of the lack of decent source material?

Actually, the Shochiku DVD of this looks pretty good The subbed Panorama looks considerably less good, despite using the same digital source, because it compresses this long film onto a DVD-5 disc.

Reasons for pessimism:

One -- the overall glacial pace of Criterion's Ozu releases (go ahead, Criterion, make me eat my words).

Two -- the fact that this is not at the top of most people's demand list.

If Criterion were to begin releasing Ozu films at the rate of four or more a year -- I would expect this to show up sooner. ;~}

[kinjitsu]

Reasons for pessimism:

One -- the overall glacial pace of Criterion's Ozu releases (go ahead, Criterion, make me eat my words).

Two -- the fact that this is not at the top of most people's demand list.

If Criterion were to begin releasing Ozu films at the rate of four or more a year -- I would expect this to show up sooner. ;~}

Glacial, indeed. Exactly which titles would you consider at the top of most people's demand list? Personally, I don't have one, since any Ozu will do at this point, though I was expecting Late Spring sooner rather than later. Naruse goes without saying...

late spring arrives,
the cherry blossoms
have already fallen

[Michael Kerpan]

Glacial, indeed. Exactly which titles would you consider at the top of most people's demand list? Personally, I don't have one, since any Ozu will do at this point, though I was expecting Late Spring sooner rather than later. Naruse goes without saying...

I would guess that the top five priorities would be something like:
I Was Born But
Only Son (Richie commentary supposedly recorded)
Late Spring
Equinox Flower
Autumn Afternoon

I hope they tackle "Tokyo Twilight" relatively soon too (but don't expect it).

[FilmFanSea]

The print of Late Spring that played in Seattle last year was truly wretched, and I have so far avoided the three available DVD versions due to their various problems. I don't expect any miracles from Criterion's long-anticipated release of this sublime masterpiece, but I hope they will pull out all the stops for this edition.

[Michael Kerpan]

The print of "Late Spring" that was shown in Boston (at the very beginning of the Ozu retrospective's tour) looked reasonably good. The Shochiku DVD looks better than the Panorama -- and not bad at all.

[Cinephrenic]

Using amazon's "search inside this book" function, I've located most of them:

How did you? We only get index, front flap, back flap, table of contents, etc..?

[ellipsis7]

Print of LATE SPRING taped a couple of years ago off Film Four looks very serviceable indeed, so look forward very much to CC disc...

[kinjitsu]

The print of "Late Spring" that was shown in Boston (at the very beginning of the Ozu retrospective's tour) looked reasonably good. The Shochiku DVD looks better than the Panorama -- and not bad at all.

Not having seen Late Spring theatrically since heaven knows when (I have only a library VHS to make comparisons), I am more than content to have the Criterion DVD... However, if one of the two so-called art cinemas in my neighborhood had the guts or clout to pull off an Ozu or Naruse retro, that would make me happier still.

Using amazon's "search inside this book" function, I've located most of them:

How did you? We only get index, front flap, back flap, table of contents, etc..?

The search inside this book feature is at the top of the page.